#15159, James GRAY

James Gray was the sixth child and fourth son of William and Christian Gray. Their third son, his namesake, died in infancy. He worked in the calico dyeing trade in Scotland as had his brother Matthew. In 1858 from his son’s birth certificate he was a warehouseman but by thirty two was in business as a Master calico printer. Between 1862 and 1888 he was listed in the Glasgow Post Office Directories as a principal of S. Higginbotham Sons and Gray, Calico printers. He then became a partner in the firm James Gray and Sons until his death.

He married Bessie Bullough from Accrington, whose father James Bullough was a textile machinery manufacturer and inventive genius, yet being from humble beginnings he wore clogs to the end of his days. James and Bessie had three sons and one daughter, Maggie, who was a close friend of her cousin Bessie Gray. Their eldest son William Bullough Gray was a cotton machinery manufacturer who died young leaving his wife, Mary Boothroyd, expecting their only child Ileen. Their son James (Jim) Bullough moved to live in America where he worked as a poultry farmer. He married and had four children. Charles worked as a calico printer, married and had two children.

Aged 58, James died at his home in Pollockshields, South of Glasgow, in the presence of his son, William. The cause of death was renal disease with pulmonary congestion and convulsion.

Nicky Hibbin